NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Murphy Howard I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

MARIO GAUCI I've often claimed that I admire Martin Scorsese far more as a film historian than as a film-maker & something like this only reaffirms that notion. While I've watched A PERSONAL JOURNEY WITH MARTIN SCORSESE THROUGH American CINEMA (1995) years ago, I've only managed now to catch up with its follow-up; although it doesn't seem to me that the previous documentary was as selective as this one, his later (& much shorter) A LETTER TO ELIA (2010) was equally choosy. While in a way this stringent choice of material - in this case, some 20 movies discussed over a 4-hour time slot - makes for a rigorous analysis of the films in question (almost playing like a selected, scene-specific audio commentary from a distinguished fan), one can't help feeling that the movies or film-makers which have been bypassed are being unjustly discriminated against! Yet, this is Scorsese speaking about the handful of Italian movies that have meant the most to him on a personal & artistic level...so there are (mainly) 8 Rossellinis, 4 De Sicas, 3 Viscontis, 3 Fellinis & 2 Antonionis. As much as I enjoyed listening to him dissecting each of these films for 10 minutes at a time, the fact that he (mostly) concentrates on celebrated World Cinema classics to begin with also means that he is not really stating anything new (unlike, say, his then-'surprising' championing of Allan Dwan's neglected oater SILVER LODE [1954] in his previous documentary which had stuck with me enough to purchase the film on DVD much later on & come to love it myself)! While I can understand that some of the omitted titles just might not have been available to view as he was growing up, some of the missing stuff IS perplexing: he doesn't mention De Sica's classic MIRACLE IN MILAN (1951) but instead concentrates on the lesser-known THE GOLD OF NAPLES (1954; the only film included I've yet to watch) & skips over LA NOTTE (1961) when he gets to Antonioni's famous trilogy! He also commits the common mistake of dismissing Rossellini's work between his Bergman & TV phases (1955-1965); I, for one, am glad that his VIVA L'ITALIA (1961) is being released on BluRay by Arrow next year in 2 versions! Again, the decision on what to include may have willfully been restricted to his formative years...but, the thing is, he is so good at analysing the films included that one longs to learn his opinion on lesser-known masterpieces like Mario Monicelli's THE GREAT WAR (1959), Luigi Comenicini's EVERYBODY GO HOME! (1960), Dino Risi's THE EASY LIFE {IL SORPASSO} (1962), Vittorio Cottafavi's THE 100 HORSEMEN (1964) & Valerio Zurlini's THE CAMP FOLLOWERS (1965)! His complete passing over of Mario Bava, Pasolini & Bertolucci is genuinely baffling, to say the least...but, for what it's worth, what is included makes one yearn to watch the films again & it served as a personal reminder that some of these I've only watched once ages ago!!

shesanopenbook How does a filmmaker get out of being asked in every interview what films influence him? He makes a movie about them. Martin Scorsese's lengthy documentary, My Voyage to Italy has been making the rounds on film festival circuit since 1999. It is now available to the general public on two-disc DVD.Scorsese says in the beginning of My Voyage to Italy that his film was made so that people, especially today's youth, can realize that not all great films are born deep in the heart of Hollywood, USA. Scorsese directs and narrates this documentary about the history of Italian cinema. My Voyage to Italy includes home video from Scorsese's childhood and footage from 24 movies made between 1914 and 1966. It is these films that inspired him to become one of America's most well known and beloved directors. Scorsese gives us plot points, character descriptions and even endings of each classic film, pointing out specific elements that make the movie great. He tells us the strengths and weaknesses of each film and what he got out of it. At one point, he even shows us the same scene twice so we can spot exactly what he wants us to see. And, although you know the ending of these films, you are somehow still compelled to go out and see them anyway. It is as if he is a close friend who is describing a movie he just saw and tells you to go see it. This is a person whose opinion you can have confidence in.The films featured in My Voyage to Italy opened the door for today's writers and directors. In a time where free speech was only something the press could take advantage of, many of the films were considered scandalous and provoked boycotts and law suits in the US. Roberto Rossellini's film Il Miracolo (The Miracle) prompted a US court to rule that filmmakers are entitled to the same freedom of speech as the media. Where would modern cinema be without this landmark decision?Scorsese's main influences were the films made during the Italian neo-realism movement. All of the films in the genre focused on the reality of World War II; the horrors and sacrifice, liberation and compassion; all of the emotions felt during that time are on the screen, giving the audience little-to-no optimism or silver-lining. Through these films, the viewer experiences the filmmaker's response to that moment in history. They were not about a hero or a villain, but about life during and after the most extensive and costly war in the history of the world. Through these movies, Scorsese was subjected to the true Italian life and culture he couldn't experience at home in New York.My Voyage to Italy should be required viewing for people who want to pursue a career in film; it is like a four-hour advanced film class that is as interesting as it is entertaining. It is obvious to the viewer that the films Scorsese highlights are dear to his heart. Based on the films that he loves, you can clearly see their influence reflected in the darker movies he has directed. Films like Taxi Driver and Goodfellas came to life because of the old movies he watched on the tiny black-and-white TV in his childhood home. Before watching My Voyage to Italy, I had never seen even a frame of a film by Rossellini or Federico Fellini. Now, I feel compelled to go out and study each one. That, I suppose, was Scorsese's intention all along.

eye3 In A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies, (1995) (TV), the eponymous legendary director took us on a proverbial tour of his old neighborhood: the Hollywood movies of the 30s, 40s and 50s which were his school on screen.He now takes us on a second tour of his early influences, this time of early post-war Italian cinema which he recalls growing up watching on an Italian t.v. station in New York, albeit dubbed into English.Want to know those influences? Buy it and watch it.Like with the earlier documentary, this one is an immediate collection standard for everyone from the movie buff to Scorsese's heirs-in-the-making. You may be tempted to watch it through as I tried to one Friday night on a cable broadcast. You'd be better off watching it in segments al la the film school classroom. I know I will.

Zen Bones There are so few people today who are interested in the great films of yesteryear. That's sad on many levels, but one of the more ironic reasons is that many of the directors who are so loved today could not have made the great films they did, had they not been so deeply inspired by the films of the past. Especially by the period of neo-realism in Italian Cinema (1940s-1960s).There's no way anyone could make a bad documentary about this era, since the films themselves have such a strong impact that any clips would be fascinating. But Scorsese has given us his very personal experience of these films, and that gives each of the films some context. Those of us who can remember seeing these films for the first time can relive the experience with Scorsese, exactly as if they were seeing the films for the first time. It also makes one think back on all the most important films in our personal lives. The films that first gave the world dimension, and the films that first made us worship the potential that great cinema has. The main directors featured are Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio De Sica, Lucino Visconti, Michaelangelo Antonioni and Federico Fellini, and Scorsese lovingly takes his time showing us numerous clips from most of their greatest films. I was lucky enough to see this documentary in a cinema, and I hope others will also have that chance. Most of the films featured I'd only seen on video. Some I'd liked a lot, others I loved, but nothing prepared me for the impact of seeing those images on the big screen! But even if you can only catch this on video or DVD, do your best to see it. It's what I call "sacred cinema"!